Today National Taxpayers Union (NTU) released its annual Congressional Ratings for the 2016 Session, recording a slight rise for the average protaxpayer score in the House, while marking a dip in the Senate’s average. Yet, the ranks of truly superlative performers in Congress who voted consistently to protect taxpayers diminished.
For 38 years, NTU’s Rating has remained the only fiscal policy scorecard to include every roll call vote affecting taxpayers, utilizing a sophisticated evaluation process. The latest NTU Rating, covering the Second Session of the 114th Congress, included 56 Senate and 236 roll-call votes in the House of Representatives that impacted the federal tax, spending, debt, or regulatory burden on consumers and taxpayers.
“Even as an uncompetitive tax system, government spending liabilities, and burdensome regulations threatened taxpayers with even more ominous challenges, our latest Rating shows that too many Members of Congress did not regularly vote for a serious course correction,” said NTU President Pete Sepp. “Although House and Senate averages are above the lows they sank to nearly 30 years ago, the nearly unprecedented fiscal policy problems we face today call for major improvement across the board.”
Both the House and Senate had the worst average on the NTU Rating in 1988 (27 and 28 percent, respectively). The highest marks were reached in 1995, when House and Senate averages were 58 percent and 57 percent, respectively.
NTU commended Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Representative Justin Amash (R-MI) for their 2016 voting records. Their unflagging dedication to fiscal responsibility and free market principles earned them the top scores in their respective chambers.
NTU is also proud to recognize other Members who fought day in and day out to protect American Taxpayers. NTU Federal Affairs Manager Nan Swift added, “The NTU scorecard takes into account a broad universe of roll call votes, not just a handpicked few. This generates a comprehensive picture of each Members’ voting record, which better reflects their core values. For this reason, lawmakers who achieve a high score have truly earned the title, 'Taxpayers’ Friend.' This is no small feat. It requires unflinching adherence to principle over politics.”
See NTU’s full 2016 congressional scorecard and other analysis here.
If you would like to speak to an NTU spokesperson about the results from our Congressional Ratings, please contact Jenn Fedor at jenn.fedor@ntu.org.